Musings On An Exorcists End
by Crystal Meadow
Summary: Someone is watching the young exorcists and wondering, when their time comes what their last leg of their journey will be like.


_Musings on an Exorcists End_

They're simply amazing, those exorcists. It must be quiet a feat to have them all there at the same time and all laughing and having fun with each other. Even Kanda isn't being the usual ice prince that he is. I don't know how long I've been watching them, but I just can't bring myself to stop. To see a moment like this in the middle of a war is a rare thing indeed. It makes me wonder what afterlife they will choose.

You didn't know? Well there are different choices to choose from when you die. There isn't just the straight Heaven or Hell. There are many different endings if you meet their requirements. The only one I am familiar with is the one for the fighters. It's quite close to Heaven, and nearly just as peaceful. The only difference is that people can still fight or do good and all that jazz. Those things are against the rules in Heaven. I personally think that Heaven is overrated, but that is just my opinion.

I can tell just from looking at them who is going where. It is a skill that I have acquired over the years, though I can never decide if that is a good or bad thing. I can picture each and every one of them when they are walking up the long staircase to claim what the fought so hard for. I wonder who will be the first to go. I guess it would probably be Kanda since he is living on borrowed time.

Kanda is a swordsman, no, a samurai, to the core and a samurai's defining thing is their sword. One of his greatest partners was Mugen. It is even connected to his very soul. That is why when he is climbing the stairs he will have it firm in his grip and will not be parted from him even in death. When he is ascending the stairs he will go over everything in his life. That is what the stairs are there for. When he finally gets to the very top he will see the gates and the gatekeeper. They will tell him that he has made it but that he cannot fight and must leave all traces of violence outside the gate, specifically his sword. Kanda will just stare at the man with a slightly surprised/aghast look on his face. Mugen was there until the very end and telling him to leave it outside the gate is like asking him to tear off his arm and leave it on the ground.

The glare he would give that poor gatekeeper, man, I wish I could see it. He would probably even draw Mugen and put it to his throat. By then the gatekeeper will be freaked out enough to tell him of another choice. That's when he would sheath Mugen again and turn around without a word spoken in the whole exchange and walk about a little ways down the stairs until he came to a turn off that he didn't see before. Then he'll walk down the path until he comes to another gate.

It will probably be one of the lazier fighters on gate duty that day. Kanda will grip Mugen in a way daring the fighter guarding the gate to refuse him. The gatekeeper that day will probably smile and say something like, 'yeah, you're a big scary swordsman, go on through,' or something to that affect. Then he'll open the gate and wave him through with a paring comment of 'nice sword', 'welcome home', or 'don't forget to check in with the old broad'. I'm pretty sure it will be the last one, it usually always is. That's how the first exorcist will show up. After some time another one will start walking the staircase. She'll be a lot more complacent, but isn't Miranda always?

She really won't be thinking much. She'll just be enjoying the walk and then, about ¾ of the way up she'll notice that there is another path, she's observant like that, but will keep going up. After all, when she heard all of those stories about the hero going up the staircase to heaven, she always heard him go all the way up, not going up a ways and then making a sharp right. So she'll go up all the way and come to the pearly gates. There the gatekeeper will open up the doors for her and tell her that she won't have to fight again and beckon her in with a warm smile.

That will stop her though because she'll remember back before the Black Order and before she met Allen and Lenalee. She did so many different jobs in her life. So many different jobs and activities that she failed at. The first thing that she ever did right, the first time someone told her thank you, was when she was helping Allen and Lenalee during the fight against Rhode.

After that, she found something that she could do and not fail at. These thoughts will circle through her mind for some amount of time, when you die time doesn't really mean all that much, and Miranda knows a lot about time. After that she will come to a conclusion and give a small smile and quietly apologize to the gatekeeper for wasting his time. She will turn around because she can't go back to not doing anything. Not doing anything is too close to failing to do something for her, and she doesn't want to go back to the old Miranda that she spent so much of her life to get rid off. The only time she was happy was when she was doing something right, and the only thing she can do right is fight.

When he watches her go back down the stairs he'll think to himself that he expected the other female to go down to _**her**_ afterlife like that swordsman did and Miranda to come here. It isn't the first time that he is surprised by an exorcist and he knows as he closes the gates that it won't be his last. He'll smile a little and shake his head getting ready for the next person to show up at his gate.

Meanwhile, Miranda will go back down the stairs to where she saw that other path, because where else can she go? She'll come across a gate that looks more like a wall around a fortress and a little guard booth with a person that seems to be sleeping inside. She'll walk up to him and ask what this place is. He'll wake up and look around until he sees her and just stare at until her until she is about to apologize. Before she does though he interrupts her and says like he's sharing an inside joke, "Why don't you go in and find out for yourself."

She'll be startled and off balance and hesitant because she doesn't want to be trapped in time in someplace she doesn't want to be, she's had to much experience in that. The gatekeeper will see her hesitation and say with a smile that could have rivaled the angel's smile she just saw, "The lady has been expecting you Miranda, welcome home," and she hears something in his voice that she can't help but feel that she _is _home so she'll go in. Her last thought before the doors close will be that she hopes that her friends will find this place because only Kanda has died before her, and he isn't the friendliest of companions.

It will be awhile before the stairs have another exorcist walking up them,though it won't be so long after Miranda came up . Krory will be a lot like Kanda though and use the staircase to reflect on his life. He won't be able to help it though; by then he will have a lot of things to reflect on. The one though that will plague him all the way up the stairs is where akuma go after they are destroyed, because all those decades that passed have never made him forget Eliade. He'll go up about ¾ of the way until he comes across a break in the path and he'll hear some humming that he hasn't heard since way back from when he was in the Black Order, but he'll shrug it off and keep going up the stairs. Hearing that humming though will be like flicking a switch though for all of his memories from the Black Order.

So by the time he gets to the gate he will be terribly confused on what he wants to choose. He will wonder what he will choose, because that path was there for something, right? The gatekeeper will see his look of confusion and heave a quiet sigh, because he always has the luck of getting the exorcists. Then he'll explain the choices to Krory because he doesn't want to see a person like this so conflicted. He'll say that there is another choice that will allow him the option to visit family and the like here but still be able to help back down on Earth.

Krory will get all happy and go back down the stairs with a smile on his face, because he really did like helping people. Not to mention that when he went to the Black Order was the first time he had a family, and he has dearly missed the ones that pasted on. This way he can even visit Eliade, because it wasn't her fault that she was an akuma and there is no way that she could be at the other end of the staircase. So off he will go back to the turn-off that he heard the humming coming from earlier. Then he'll keep walking to the little guard shack and see an old friend there that he hasn't see for years.

Miranda will be quite happy to see another familiar exorcist, because even in death Kanda isn't the best company and still kind of scares her. She'll open the gate quick and call someone up to take her place to find out that the lady already sent up someone to take over her shift. This is her third exorcist from this generation and she has learned by now, and it's the little things like this that really separate eternity. That's how Arystar Krory's chapter will end, him and Miranda walking and talking to the main compound picking up where their friendship left off.

A long time after that, at least fifteen years, another exorcist with shocking red hair and an eyepatch that hasn't been worn since the fight against the Earl, because even though the bookman are supposed to be empty recorders of time, Lavi never really left and was just waiting to come back out again. So that is why the flamboyant red head that was buried deep inside was walking up the stairs with a smile on his face and a tune whistling from his lips. He won't even go up the whole staircase. As soon as he sees the turnoff he'll go straight down it not even breaking stride. He has lived to long following so many rules and even if it's just a little one he wants to make his own choice. So when he sees a bored looking pale man with black and white hair he'll yell, "KROW-CHAN" and won't feel bad about it. Just like he won't feel bad for crying or smiling and just being happy to see his friend because, even if in life he held the title of bookman, he isn't that now. He is just Lavi and it isn't against the rules for Lavi to cry, smile, or just feel happy. This thought doesn't leave his head when he sees Miranda and Kanda happy and smiling, well as happy and smiling as Kanda can get, and he can't help but think that this is as high as the stairs go because there can't be a place better than this.

Now there will only be two left, technically just one, because Lenalee is already walking up the stairs but she is going over her life. I can near guarantee that she won't even notice the turn-off. She isn't a fighter and she will go all the way to the top and walk through the gates. She never wanted to be a fighter. She was only fighting for her friends so now that she doesn't have to worry about them she can finally just relax and enjoy herself. The gate keeper will only raise an eyebrow because he really thought that she would go to her afterlife and not here, but it isn't his place to judge, so he'll just sit back and wait for the next one.

Now after all of this time, he will finally walk the stairs. The destroyer of time will finally be able to get his reward. He'll be a little freaked out at first because he will be nearly 50 years younger but he will brush it off and just enjoy the youth that was taken fro him so long ago. This time though will be different from the others because someone will be waiting out at the branch off.

It will probably be Lavi, he is the most eye catching. They'll have a little reunion and Allen will be watery eyed, because he missed the day that Lavi had to leave and pick up another life. By the time they get to the gate he really will be crying because everyone will be there. He'll probably even try to get a hug from Kanda because he has missed the swordsman the most and the day that he lost his youth was also the same day that he lost Kanda. Then Miranda and Krowy will be crying even harder and trying to hug Allen himself. Lavi will be laughing and crying and waiting his turn, because Kanda, Miranda, and Krory haven't see Allen for the longest.

Allen will look around and wonder out loud where Lenalee is and everyone will just look at each other. It will be Miranda that will say where she went, but before things get to morose Kanda will salvage the happy reunion with a remark. Probably, "Time to go home moyashi," or, "The lady wants to see you moyashi." The only thing that I can be sure of is that he will somehow work in that old nickname. Then everything will be back to normal and they will all walk in. Allen will be thinking of how he missed his family and how he hopes that Mana is proud of him. Then the gates will close behind him. That is how I think that one of the greatest exorcists that the world will ever see will pass.

That is all a guess though, and far, far away into the future. The time is now, when they are all at their table laughing and arguing with each other. It will be after many struggles and a lot of close calls, but everyone has to succumb to death. I can't wait to talk to them. I'll just have to wait until they show up at my gates. Until then my fighters, may you have as much happiness as you can.


End file.
